


SOS: Scared Of Spiders

by H_W_Star



Category: Blood Bank Manhwa
Genre: Cute, Eric and Shell live nextdoor to each other, Eric to the rescue, M/M, One-Shot, Shell has a spider in his bathtub, Sweet, a certain someone helps him out, adorable nervous Shell, apartment neighbors au, human Eric (One), human Shell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 18:35:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9671048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/H_W_Star/pseuds/H_W_Star
Summary: Shell has a couple of problems. His insanely attractive neighbor as well as a giant spider are both of them. Luckily for Shell, the former comes to help with the latter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> All ownership goes to Silb for creating these amazing and adorable characters. Neither of them belong to me.  
> Written because I love these two as well as to get you all through the recent hiatus for chapter 55.  
> Thank you to all who stop by for a read, and hope you enjoy :)

 

Shell had a problem.

Now, he had dealt with plenty of problems in the past. He was actually quite good at overcoming obstacles, whatever they turned out to be. He was in charge of a major company; problem solving was something that came with the territory, something that needed to be mastered if there was to be any success. He was used to being faced with problems.

But this problem was not keys locked in the car, nor forgetting the company password. It wasn’t even getting a pant leg stuck in the doors of the subway train as they were closing and having to stay like that for the duration of the ride because no one in the entire car was strong enough to wrench them free.  No, this problem came in the form of the dark-haired, stern-faced, bespectacled man who happened to reside in the apartment neighboring Shell’s own. More specifically, in the overwhelming attraction Shell felt whenever he saw him.  

He and Shell had been apartment neighbors for almost a solid six months; they had actually moved in within days of each other. While bringing up their respective boxes, they had made eye contact, but that was their first and pretty much only interaction. Since then, Shell had wanted to go over and talk to him, but never had the courage to do so. His nerves always stopped him from taking more than a half-step past the threshold of his own apartment. So, albeit less-than-contentedly, Shell had settled for seeing him in the hallway, sometimes in the lobby, in the parking lot a few times. Oh, and that one time in the grocery store.

It had been great. Shell had been in dire need of some paper towels (of all things; it wasn’t as if he had dinner parties regularly or anything, it was just that he had spilled and said scenario truly opened his eyes to his severe lack of materials with which to clean said spill up). He had entered the store wholeheartedly determined to quickly get the paper towels and get out, yet per usual the only thing he ended up quickly getting was distracted. He couldn’t help it really, not when they had _crème puffs_. Not to mention all the different kinds of ice cream. They were even having a sale on the exact kind of Sanpellegrino drink he liked (the sparkling blood orange one). In a matter of minutes the several rolls of paper towels were no longer the only items in his basket.

He had been in the middle of inspecting some rather nice-looking flowers—white roses; he had recently closed a large deal, maybe he should celebrate by livening his place up a bit? (He would normally reward himself with some kind of drink, but to be honest the Sanpellegrino he was going to buy regardless)—when he had caught sight of a familiar head of dark hair and pair of glasses and reflexively dashed behind an aisle shelf. Poking his head out from the shelf, he had watched as his neighbor stopped in front of the drink aisle and, after a moment of locating the beverage he was searching for, reached out to grab it and place it in his basket. He had walked by Shell without noticing, and Shell was thankful for the awkwardness of an accidental eye contact he had just been spared, until he saw the name of the drink in the basket: Sanpellegrino sparkling blood orange. Shell thought he might faint. At the very least, he felt the blush on his cheeks spreading, and tried to smother his growing excitement. _That’s the same kind I like. Maybe I can start a conversation with that?_ Just as Shell had gathered his courage and fought down his nerves enough to call out to the man—reminding himself that word would be ‘Hello’—his neighbor had disappeared, quite possibly to the checkout line already. Despite not being able to locate him, Shell had still felt extremely happy with how the store visit had turned out.

Unfortunately, after that it had been back to intermittent hallway glances, awkward eye contact in the lobby, and slightly nerve-wracking passes on the way to his car. Shell thought this one seemingly unsolvable problem was more than enough. Apparently, life didn’t quite agree.

A few days later, Shell found himself in another problematic situation. Except this time, the danger was a lot more urgent and a lot more threatening. This time, it came in the form of a giant, furry, black spider on the rim of his bathtub. And no way was he getting anywhere near it. Though…that kind of made it difficult for him to get rid of it. Or, he could just leave it. Yup, all he had to do was just…not use the bathroom. Ever. That would be fine. He’d be fine with that. Totally…

No, he had to get it out of there. Correction: he had to get someone to get it out of there. The only issue was that it was nearly midnight on a Thursday and he was almost certain no one was awake. It couldn’t hurt to check though, right? And really, what was the point of walking all the way down the hall, when there was a perfectly good inhabited apartment across from him? Even if the apartment all the way down the hall belonged to the ex-exterminator whom Shell had actually talked to a few times. He probably wasn’t up. Also, Shell’s feet were tired (or maybe he was just telling himself that). Regardless, this was Shell’s opportunity to actually talk to the guy, and with an actual dilemma instead of just one he may or may not have been practicing in his head as an excuse.

Shell could feel his pulse start to race and his heart to start beating faster, no doubt thanks to his nerves. Yet he steeled himself, took one last deep breath, and opened his door. There waiting for him was the threshold, the barrier he had faced countless times before on the same endeavor. _Just pretend it’s an amateur entrepreneur with a bad pitch_. One more deep breath and Shell managed to get himself out into the hall. He let out a small, excited squeal before composing himself. There was still a ways to go, although more figuratively than literally as there really only remained one or two steps to his neighbor’s door.

There was no doorbell or intercom (the only one was down in the lobby and for announcements like deliveries), so Shell was forced to knock. The sound of his knuckles against the wood sounded like banging in the quiet of the hallway, and after knocking he waited in agonizing silence until the door opened. His neighbor stood there, not seeming to be in pajamas yet looking to have been woken up as his hair was slightly disheveled and he removed his glasses to rub his eyes. Shell guessed he must have fallen asleep while doing work or something of the sort (being someone who found himself in the same situation often, he knew the symptoms).

“H-hi,” Shell began, and realized suddenly that he didn’t know the man’s name. Embarrassed, Shell could feel his cheeks heating up as his (much hotter up close) neighbor stared blearily back at him.

“Uhm…” Shell coughed, and made an attempt to get some words out. “Spider…my bathtub…if you could…”

The man blinked. “You want me to get in your bathtub with you?”

Shell’s cheeks were aflame. “N-no! No, that’s, that’s not--” _Get it together!_ Nervously straightening his jacket, he tried again. “I was wondering if you might be able to help me with something. There’s this rather large spider in my bathtub, and I have a slight phobia of things with more than four legs, so I was wondering if maybe you could help me get it out of my bathtub? I know it’s late and you’re probably busy--”

“Sure.”

“What?” Shell blinked. “Really?”  

The man just nodded, grabbed a jacket, and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

“Thank you,” Shell said, then remembered and added, “By the way, I don’t actually know your name.”

The man looked at him, and Shell saw he had dark blue eyes. They were beautiful.

“Eric,” he said.

“Pleased to meet you, Eric. I’m Shell.”

“Shell? Like on a beach?”

“…My father’s eccentric,” Shell said as he opened the door to his apartment. He led Eric down the hall to his bathroom, where the fat black shape surprisingly hadn’t moved. Eric walked in, kneeling down to examine the present situation’s danger level, while Shell opted to wait by the doorframe.

_Oh my god, he’s in my house. My neighbor, Eric, who is even more attractive than I’d realized and who also has some of the most captivating dark blue eyes I have literally ever seen in my life, is in my house. Is this even happening?_

“Do you have a cup?” Eric’s voice cut through Shell’s dreamlike thoughts.

“Hm?”

“A cup. Preferably a clear one, so I can make sure I’ve got it.”

“Oh, yea, in the kitchen.” After a moment—and Eric’s blank stare—Shell realized the ridiculousness of his statement and added, “Which you have no idea where in this apartment that would be, naturally, so I will be right back.” Blushing furiously, he turned and went to retrieve a cup from the kitchen. Returning to the bathroom he handed the cup to Eric, who used it along with a piece of paper to trap the spider and take it out to the balcony. There he gently deposited the black shape onto a tree, and came back in to hand Shell back his cup.

“You should be all set now.”

“Thanks.” Shell wanted him to stay longer, but didn’t know what else to say. He also, now that the spider was out of the house and the crisis he had needed help with was avoided, didn’t trust himself not to say something stupid.

He walked with Eric towards the door, searching for something else to say, when the dark-haired man turned and handing Shell a piece of paper said, “Oh, by the way, here.” Looking down Shell saw it had a phone number on it.

“In case anything else happens,” Eric said, and smiled. Shell’s heart nearly stopped.

He cleared his throat. “Th-thank you. I appreciate the help.” Eric nodded, and walked across the hall to his own apartment.

Before closing the door, he said, “Goodnight, Shell.”

“Goodnight, Eric.”

They closed their doors at the same time, Shell still blushing as he did so. He looked down at the paper once more. _Removing a giant spider from my bathtub isn’t exactly romantic. I gotta ask this guy out sometime._ He placed the paper gingerly on his nightstand, not fighting the nerves this time as they caused his heart to skip a little looking at the numbers.

Across the hall, in his own apartment, Eric touched his fingers to one cheek, feeling the heat there. Letting out a defeated sigh, he whispered, “Damn.” 


End file.
